Monday, April 07, 2014

Mixed Prayer at The Kotel

I am sure that you, like me, have seen photographs from early in the 20th century, if not earlier, showing how men and women, even without the separation partition, aka Mechitza, were standing at the Kotel in a two distinct groups. This is, it is claimed, proof that prayer at that site was not as the custom of the Women of the Wall.Now, on the one hand, my position is that the Women of the Wall should be allowed to practice worship customs at the Kotel, as long as (a) they do not make too much distracting noise and (b) they are dressed modestly (we do not need a repeat of the 1756 Lanckoronie Affair). On the other, I think it irrational that a court in Israel would declare a custom of 20 years, observed but once a month for an hour, to override a custom of many hundreds of years 24 hours a day daily.In any case, look at this picture:

Men to one corner. Then two women.And then another man.Yes, they are all posing for the photographer but nevertheless, even pictures cannot be trusted.Or perhaps there really was relatively mixed prayer at the Western Wall. And yes, I know that the Women of the Wall do not prayer men and women together as one quorum group, except when in the vack of the main Plaza area.^

2 comments:

as i see no tallis or tefillin , it is likely they are just saying tehillim. also there is no minyan. if they were praying it is without a minyan anf=d hence no separation. Think of men praying on El Al.

About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.